Chapter Five

_________

 

Leah

 

 

 

I didn’t really have a plan in mind when I went upstairs to get my things at my mom’s house. I was still burning with a really shitty combination of anger, hurt, and embarrassment, and so my mother’s comment about the shoes hadn’t really sunk in at first. It wasn’t until I’d been left alone in the guest room to change that I’d started thinking about it, and then the rest had been set in motion. I hadn’t left my shoes in her room, and I hadn’t forgotten her story about climbing down from the balcony to escape the crazy ex-boyfriend. Why she would put that idea in my head, I didn’t know. Most likely it wasn’t for me at all, but rather to piss off my dad. Either way, I was going to take it, because there was no chance I was leaving with the arrogant asshole my dad had sent. And, tipping the scale even further, I did not want to go back downstairs and see my mom and Cameron again. Not after everything that had just been said.

So, that left the balcony.

I requested an Uber through the account I’d secretly started back home, which was how I’d gotten to the airport after ditching Isaacs. There were several drivers nearby, so it had only been a few minutes before mine arrived. After he called, the rest was easy. Well, mostly. I scraped up my hands and the insides of my thighs on the way down, and I hurt one of my wrists trying to break my fall against the pavement. But I got up running, cutting through the neighbor’s backyard toward where the car was waiting, and I never looked back.

There was a crazy moment downstairs at my mom’s house when I’d actually considered going with the bodyguard. Dominic Weber. He’d shown up at the worst possible time, when I was emotional and reeling with hurt from my mom’s rejection, and he’d talked to me in that gentle, familiar tone that had felt like comfort. For one confused second, I’d actually wanted to go with him, to let everything else go and just…give in. Go back home, back to my boring, sheltered life, and forget any of this had ever happened. But then he’d ramped up the charm by a degree too far, and I’d remembered who he was and what he represented: the loss of my freedom, and the total lack of control I had in every aspect of my life. There was no way I was going with him.

I hadn’t been lying when I said I’d seen him before. One day over winter break I’d been playing on my phone in the large conference room down the hall from my dad’s office, alone at the head of the long table. Eleanor had been talking to my dad about a charity project she was putting together at school, and I was waiting for her so we could go home. The room was dark because I’d been sitting still for so long that the motion-activated lights had switched off, and a bustle of activity from the hallway just outside had grabbed my attention from my phone. When I looked up, there he was, obviously having just exited the smaller conference room across the hall. He was stopped in my line of vision while he talked to a longtime member of the security team named Davis. They’d both been dressed in the crisp white shirt and tie combo that all the security guys wore and, my eyes had lingered for a moment on the impressive way his body filled out that shirt. I clearly remembered how the material had molded around his wide, solid chest and thick, tight biceps. He wasn’t ridiculously muscle-bound or anything, but it definitely looked like he got his daily workouts in. Soon my inspection had wandered upward, to his short black hair, bronzed skin, and dark, expressive eyes. His mouth was relaxed into an easy smirk as he spoke quietly with Davis; they were obviously comfortable with each other and probably weren’t discussing business. They kept their voices low out of respect for the corporate atmosphere, but they were casual and relaxed in a way I rarely saw from my dad’s security team. He’d muttered something to Davis in a soft rumble and Davis had snickered and then they were gone, continuing down the hall until their voices faded to nothing. I hadn’t exactly thought about him very often in the months since, but I also never really forgot the way my stomach had tightened and my nerves had tingled with awareness just from looking at him. I never saw him again until he showed up at my mother’s house, and recognition had quickly twisted into angry resentment.

Sitting in the back of the Uber, I felt naked and lost without the phone that I’d been forced to ditch. It had been necessary, though, and not just for the purpose of recording my voice. I knew they had ways to track it using just the number. Now absolutely no one could reach me, for anything, and that prospect was both liberating and terrifying. I’d buy a new one after I got checked into a hotel room, and then I would do whatever the hell I wanted to do for a day or so. When I flew home it would be by my choice, by myself, without being escorted like a child.

To distract myself during the ride, I pulled my list from my wallet and carefully unfolded it.

2. Get to know my mom, with no reservations.

I’d gotten to know her, alright. That one could clearly be marked off. I pulled a pen out of my purse and started scribbling furiously through the letters, until they were indecipherable. Until the paper was nearly ripped. Then I looked at the remaining items and tried to determine if there was anything else I could cross off while I was here. A tattoo, maybe? My father was going to kill me as it was – might as well make it count.

 

 

In the end I decided on going to a club, because there were flyers in the hotel room advertising different restaurants and clubs in the area, and I chose one in nearby Costa Mesa. I still had some cash, so I bought a pair of black heels and a new dress at a boutique across the street – the dress was black, short, and strapless, so not the kind of thing I normally wore – and then I tamed my hair into sleek waves and did my makeup, concentrating on my eyes until they looked big and dramatic. I checked flights to New York that were leaving the next day but didn’t select one yet because I didn’t want the charge showing on my online banking. I was taking my chances with the hotel room, but the woman at the front desk said the name of the hotel wouldn’t show until the charge hard posted, which could be anywhere from one to five business days. Still, I crept slowly through the lobby on my way to the exit, examining every face I saw, making sure I wasn’t about to be jumped by the guy my dad had sent after me. When I didn’t see him, I scurried out the front entrance and hopped into a cab. No more Ubers for me, because it was too risky. I could pay a cab driver in cash.

I loved to dance, but I’d never been to a club before. It wasn’t like the clubs on TV, where there was a long line outside and a beefy bouncer selecting who got to enter. For one thing, there was no line. There was a doorman, but he merely checked my ID, took my cover, and nodded me through. It was a little more impressive inside. The music was loud, pulsing hip hop, and teal blue laser lights shone over the crowd on the dance floor. The crowd was mostly young and the girls were dressed in everything from shorts and tank tops to dresses very much like mine. I went to the bar for a couple of courage shots and tried to keep my eye on the game, focusing on that list item I’d be able to mark off. Then I crisscrossed my purse strap to my body and made myself dive in.

The liquor was already going to my head, and it definitely took away some of the awkwardness I felt at dancing by myself. It also helped that the people were friendly and inviting in a way I couldn’t imagine back home. Girls smiled at me, bumped my hips with theirs, moved past me with a steadying hand at my back. Not surprisingly, the guys were even more welcoming, dancing up against me and moving with me like they knew me. But no one got too handsy, and it felt okay in this context. After one more trip to the bar, I had no reservations left. I didn’t feel like myself, the girl who was too caught up inside her own head to ever let loose and enjoy the moment. I didn’t think. I just danced.

I never knew I could be like this.

A body moved in behind me and I didn’t even look back, just pressed into him and kept my rhythm, enjoying the heat of the large, obviously male body against my back. But soon I realized that he wasn’t matching my movements, and I frowned as hands settled gently, but firmly, at my hips. A sense of foreboding sizzled through my hazy brain, and I twisted around to meet the dark, hard eyes of the bodyguard my dad had sent. The relaxed, joking manner he’d had with Davis, or even the smooth-talking, phony persona he’d given me, were wiped clean. Now he zeroed in on me like I was a target he’d marked to destroy.

How did he find me so fast? And on a dark, crowded dance floor? Instinctively stiffening, I tried to pull back and his fingers curled into my skin through the thin material of my dress. It wasn’t rough, not really, but in my drunken state it was just enough pressure to make me lose my balance and tumble forward. Into him. My whole body fell against his and he didn’t even move, didn’t budge at the weight of me. It was like falling into a wall. A warm, decidedly male wall that smelled surprisingly good. Suddenly, I felt ten leagues out of my element, and I cursed my decision to drink tonight.

And then, before I could wrench out of his grip, he leaned his face down so it brushed mine, and he said into my ear, “You know, you are a lot more trouble than you look.”

Shivers broke out on my flesh and I couldn’t say if it was because of how close he was to me or how low and intimate his voice was. I could feel the warmth of his breath against my ear. Finally getting my bearings, I pushed at him and said, “Take your hands off me. Now.”

To my surprise, he did. But he kept close behind as I turned to escape through the crowd, like a shadow I couldn’t lose. Resentment burned through me, and when we got off the floor, I turned to him and yelled over the music, “Leave me alone. I’m not going anywhere with you. If you touch me again, I’ll call for security.”

He raised his eyebrows, apparently unconcerned with my threat. “I won’t touch you. Go ahead and dance and do whatever you need to do. You’ll have to leave sooner or later.”

“Not with you,” I shot back.

Leaning in a bit, he said in his deep gravel of a voice, “I tried to do things the easy way. Remember that.”

In response, I flipped him off and then made an angry beeline for the bar, where I ordered a water. I was done drinking and I wasn’t leaving the club until I was as sober as I could get. In defiance of him, I returned to the dance floor and moved like I was on a mission, but the carefree energy from before was gone. I was all tension and nerves again, my mind desperately trying to work out my next move. I could phone my dad to get him to call off his goon, but it was after eleven and he wasn’t a night person. I wouldn’t get anywhere calling him this late. Besides, even I recognized the hypocrisy of going to my dad to fix my problems when I was trying to get more independence from him. So, no. It was all on me to handle this. I found myself seeking him out and caught sight of him near the bar area, this large, imposing presence standing there with his hands folded in front of him, all business. Watching me like I was his sole focus. And I guess I was. It knocked me off balance, literally made me stumble in my heels, and I breathed a sigh of frustration as I realized I was done for the night. I wasn’t enjoying myself, not anymore, so I might as well confront the stalker. I made my way over to him, and he merely watched me as I approached, nothing in his expression changing.

“Just so you know, you look incredibly creepy standing here. I know you’re new and all, so let me give you a tip. Most of my bodyguards at least make an attempt to blend in.”

A brief smile quirked on one side of his mouth, and I remembered the day at my dad’s office when I saw him laughing so easily with Davis. His smile was disarming because it lit up his eyes and hit you like a physical touch. He leaned in just like he’d done at my mom’s house, and with that smile, with that teasing tone of voice, with that warm breath I could feel on my ear, he assaulted me with a sort of intimacy I was not expecting. “Not trying to blend, Leah, just waiting on you. Unless you want me out on that dance floor with you?”

I reared back before I could stop myself, then tried to cover my discomfort with a biting smile. Leaning in close, closer than I needed to, I raised myself up to his ear. My chest brushed against his and I felt the way his body stiffened, just for a moment, but it was enough. Apparently he didn’t like the taste of his own medicine that much. “Sorry to disappoint you, but you’re literally the last person in this club I would dance with. And please stop using my name like we’re friends. I don’t even remember yours.” That was a lie, but his arrogance and unwelcome presence made it easy to play the bitch.

“Dominic,” he said easily. He was watching me and there was no smile left on his face, but his dark eyes were warm, his body relaxed and confident. He’d stifled that brief tension I’d felt when I pressed against him.

“I wasn’t asking. Now go away.”

“Come outside and talk to me first.” Everything he said to me sounded like a dirty proposition, and it made me flustered and furious. “You’re not having fun here, anyway.”

My eyes narrowed. “I was before you got here.”

He shrugged, as if to say, Oh, well. “Well, I’m not going anywhere, so you might as well deal with me.”

Okay, fine, he had a point. “You won’t touch me or try to make me leave with you?”

“I won’t touch you. I just want to talk where it’s quiet.”

After a moment, I stalked off toward the exit, leaving him to follow me. Outside, the night was warm, and several people gathered near the doors talking in small groups. Once we were a short distance from them, I turned to face Dominic.

“Look,” I said, going for a firm, reasonable tone of voice. “I’m going home tomorrow morning. By myself. So I really need you to back off and leave. You’re not needed here, nor are you wanted, and I’m not going anywhere with you. If you really want me back in New York, the best way to achieve this would be to leave me alone.”

He took a step closer, getting all up in my personal space in what I knew was a move intended to intimidate me. I crossed my arms and didn’t retreat, didn’t even let my eyes waver from his. “I don’t want you anywhere,” he said. “I’m here to do a job, and that’s what I’m going to do. My job is to get you on the plane and back to your father, with me at your side. So either come with me at will, or I’ll have to resort to force, which I have been authorized to do. And I don’t think either of us wants that.”

My mouth dropped open. “What do you mean, force?”

“Let’s just say it involves getting you to the airport by any means necessary, and not only have Thomas and your father given the okay on that, it was actually their idea.”

I couldn’t believe that. My dad had actually told this guy he could put his hands on me and force me back to New York with him? He’d gone that far in his attempts to control me? Part of me wanted to think Dominic was lying, saying anything he could think of to get me to leave with him, but the other part wasn’t at all sure. Grasping for words, I said, “But you said you wouldn’t touch me.”

He gave a small smile again, but this time it didn’t reach his eyes. “I lied. One way or another, you’re coming with me.”

“You realize that’s kidnapping, don’t you? Just because you were ordered to do it doesn’t make it any less illegal.”

“I won’t need to kidnap you.” His voice wasn’t smug or arrogant, exactly. It was more like he was stating a fact, and it made me bristle. “You’ll come with me on your own.”

I was amazed at his gall. “How the fuck do you figure that?”

“Because you’re a smart girl. Your little adventure is over either way, so don’t make it harder just out of spite. What’s the alternative? I hate to have to remind you, but your daddy’s money is bankrolling this vacation of yours. I could have your bank accounts frozen with a phone call. We’ve kept them open so we could track you, but there’s no longer a need now that I have you.”

Now that I have you. Something in the way he said it made me feel hot and uncomfortable all of a sudden.

“I know you have your pride,” he continued. “I get that. But this particular situation is out of your control. Be reasonable and accept it. Come with me so we can get this over with.”

This particular situation is out of your control. I wanted to laugh. This situation, and every situation. “You don’t know anything about me,” I said, but the words sounded defeated even to my ears.

“I know all I need to know.” There was something final in his words as well, like he knew it was over. “Come on, it’s late. Let me take you back to your hotel. The pilot and crew already have overnight arrangements made, so we’ll camp out and leave in the morning.”

“Camp out?” I repeated. “Where are you going to stay?”

That amused little smile hit the corners of his mouth again. The one that flooded into his eyes. “I’m staying with you, princess.”

“With me? I don’t think so.”

He cut me off with a brief exhale of a laugh. “You don’t get it, do you? Now that I found you, you’re stuck with me. Until we’re back in New York and I deposit you safely to your father, we’re pretty much going to be inseparable.”

A heavy thud hit the bottom of my stomach and, even then, I didn’t fully grasp the implications of what he’d just said.

 

 

Dominic drove us back to my hotel, and he didn’t ask for directions or a name, pointing to the fact that he already knew where I was staying. The credit card charge must have gone through right away, after all. The lobby was bright and nearly empty when we walked in, and I felt conspicuous in my little dress, being accompanied by a random guy at such a late hour. He didn’t appear to think twice about it, rolling his suitcase behind him and striding with purpose over to the elevators.

“Floor?” he asked once we got on.

I told him my floor and he punched it in, but that was all I said until after we got to my room and he followed me inside. That was when it truly hit me that he was planning on spending the night in my room. And that there was only one bed.

“Where are you going to sleep?” I asked him, watching warily as he moved further into the room. “If you think I’m sharing my bed with you – ”

“Dream on, princess. That bed’s not built for two, so you’ll just have to keep warm all by yourself. I’ll take the floor. Though, I should be making you sleep on the floor, because if you’d just come with me in the first place we’d already be back home by now.”

“Like that was going to happen.”

“Well, that was your mistake, because now you’re stuck with me.”

“Yeah. Well, at least I have a nice, comfortable bed to sleep in. Have a good night on the floor.” In some effort to escape him, even for a moment, I went into the bathroom to wash the makeup from my face.

I heard him clearly from the other room, though he didn’t raise his voice. “Not the worst place I’ve slept.”

My brow crinkled as I rubbed my eye makeup off. “Where was the worst? Jail?” I didn’t really know why I said that. He just seemed so rough around the edges, not like anyone I’d ever been around before. And he obviously had no problem with certain illegal acts, like kidnapping or assault. Not that he’d actually done either of those things, but he’d been ready to. Why wouldn’t my dad have sent Davis or O’Neil or someone I was familiar with? Why would he send a stranger, after everything? My skin burned from the betrayal of it. I mean, sure, he probably never thought I’d end up in a hotel room with the guy, but that didn’t make it easier to forgive.

Dominic placed himself in the open doorway of the bathroom, instantly making the space feel about ten times smaller. “It’s a tossup,” he said. “I passed out in my friend’s driveway back home when I was about sixteen, and I’ve spent more than one night in someone’s backseat. Of course, alcohol played a part in those instances.”

“Have a drink from the mini-bar,” I suggested, tossing the black smudged wipe into the trashcan. Then I turned to face him, crossing my arms and waiting for him to move so I could get through the door. “It’ll make the floor feel divine, I’m sure.”

He didn’t budge. “I don’t drink on the job. I do, however, need to take a quick shower before I hit the floor.”

“Okay.” I looked at him expectantly, and when he didn’t move or speak, I prompted, “Can you move out of my way, then?”

Instead, he stepped closer, but not close enough to allow me any access to the exit. My eyes widened when I saw his arm reach back to push the door closed. “Yeah, I don’t think so. You’re going to keep me company in here.”

My heart started pounding in my chest, and I’m sure he saw my panic because it took me a few seconds to form words. “Open that door and let me out right now. I’m serious. I’m not staying in here with you.”

Something almost seemed to soften in his expression as he looked at me, but he didn’t open the door. When he spoke, his words were measured. “Leah, let’s get something straight, alright? I am not going to hurt you. I work for your father, and I’ve had several extensive background checks. You’re absolutely safe with me. With that said, I’m not letting you out of my sight again. Remember the whole inseparable thing we discussed?”

“I won’t run,” I promised. I didn’t know if I was being completely honest or not. Even though my instinct told me he wouldn’t hurt me, there was still something about him that made me want to run as far as I could.

“Look, I don’t like this any more than you do. But it’s how it has to be, so just accept it and move on. Also, there’s one more thing that I don’t think you’re going to be overly happy about.”

My eyes narrowed in confusion, my body already stiffening as he moved to reach behind him again. “What?”

He agilely stepped forward and grabbed my wrist inside his big hand, and before I knew it, I felt cold metal and heard the click of handcuffs. Shocked, stunned, and furious beyond belief, I lashed out at him as I unsuccessfully tried to free my hand.

“You asshole! What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Leah,” he said, easily pulling my arm up and hooking the other end of the cuffs around the metal towel bar. “Actually, it is that I don’t trust you. Be good, and I’ll be out in ten. Oh, and if nudity bothers you, you might want to close your eyes right about now.” He pulled his shirt over his head and I saw tanned skin, six-pack abs, and some kind of tattoo inked into his side. Even then I was still too stunned to react. Only when his fingers went to the button of his jeans did my eyes slam shut.

“I’m going to kill you for this,” I swore. “When my dad finds out, you are so fucking fired.”

“Who do you think authorized the cuffs?” The clang of the shower rods punctuated this as he pulled the curtain closed.

Trying to keep my anger in control, I experimentally tugged at the towel rack. “You think that makes any difference? I can still get you fired. I’ll just mention how you took your clothes off in front of me, maybe embellish a few things.”

“Do your best, rich girl.” His voice sounded flatter under the spray of the shower, like he disapproved of me, or maybe I was imagining it. Either way, I wasn’t about to let him make me feel bad for trying to escape what was now literal captivity.

“Oh, I will. You could have left me in the room, you could have even cuffed me out there, but this is going too far and it’s not acceptable.”

“Accept it, anyway,” he said, totally calm and unbothered. “You don’t have a choice.”

And all I could do was stew for the remainder of the time he was in the shower, which probably wasn’t more than ten minutes but felt infinitely longer. When he finally stepped out, he had a white towel wrapped around his hips that made his dark skin look even darker. I studiously looked away, trying to avoid eye contact with his nearly naked body, but then he suddenly came close and reached for my wrist. I recoiled from him automatically, but with my arm locked in place there wasn’t anywhere for me to go. The heat from his shower radiated from him, as did the fresh, clean smell of soap, and his skin was damp and glistening with beads of water. It was all too much of an assault to my senses, as much as I tried to remain unaffected.

“Could you put some clothes on first?”

He paused instantly, the key to the cuffs raised in the air between us. Briefly looking down at himself, he said, “This bothers you?”

Desperate to keep him from seeing just how uncomfortable he made me, I looked him straight in the eye and said, “Only in the vomit-inducing sense.”

The fucker actually laughed at that, turning his attention back to unlocking the cuffs. “Thought you’d want free first. There.” He gently pulled the metal cuffs off my wrist. “You’re free.”

Free, I thought sourly. Yeah, right.